Spain’s Senate Justice Committee has sharply narrowed a bill intended to facilitate Spanish nationality for Sahrawis born under Spanish administration, removing an exceptional route that would have allowed some applicants to seek citizenship without first living legally in Spain.
The committee approved nine amendments from the conservative Popular Party on Wednesday, using the PP’s Senate majority to recast the proposal as a limited amendment to Spain’s Civil Code. The bill now heads to the full Senate before returning to the lower house.
The version approved y Congress on Sept. 10 had recognized “exceptional circumstances” allowing Sahrawis born in the Sahara before Sept. 29, 1977 to apply for nationality by *carta de naturaleza*, even if they had no legal residence in Spain.
It also allowed their first-degree descendants five years to opt for nationality once a parent obtained it. Congress approved that text by 168 votes to 31, with 145 abstentions.
The PP amendments remove that exceptional mechanism, the specific application procedure attached to it, special civil-registry provisions and plans for a dedicated digital system to process applications.
What survives is a separate change to Article 22 of the Civil Code. Sahrawis would be added to the groups eligible to apply for nationality after two years of legal residence in Spain, rather than the 10 years generally required. The government would later establish by regulation how applicants prove Sahrawi status.
The PP argued that its approach offers greater legal certainty by placing Sahrawis within an existing nationality framework instead of creating a special category.
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